Locking system

[Daniel]

the reason i dont care for cutting off the fuel pump on carb cars is your engine will still run for a bit
giving someone a chance to damage your car driving it away now its at the will of the thief and not
in your drive way or where you parked it . What if they push the car else where ? or strip it parked
down the street ? i would rather the car never leave the location i last left it !

The better choice in my option is ignition kill this stops the car on the spot ...

[Adam]

I have to agree with pulling the disti wire... kids these days are'nt smart enough to figure that out. I also saw someone how installed an inline cutoff on the positive battery terminal, though this will kill the presets and time on cars with stereos.

[arana]

Thought I'd chime in here because I live in one of the car theft capitals of the americas, where the average is one car theft every 7 minutes of every day, or it was in 2009 anyway, but i haven't seen more recent stats, and I can only assume its gotten worse. Every single friend I have, all with car alarms, myself included, have had our cars stolen.

The far and away best deterrent is a large and highly visible steering wheel lock. One look in the car and the thief can see that the car isn't going anywhere. Cut off switches are great, but you still get your top cut or door locks jimmied and ignition destroyed before they realize they're not taking your car.

[Ptoneill]

I have to agree with the member from Peru, I deal with stolen cars every day. Alarms are pretty much useless in a city setting, with the possible exception of LOJACK, however it is more geared towards rapid recovery and will not stop theft of stereos. A "Club" device will not stop a professional thief, ie; organized crime, but it is a proven deterrent to your typical car thief who steals based upon opportunity and impulse. These types of thefts are much more prevalent, combine this with LOJACK and you have a good system without the problems associated with "noise makers". Of course if someone is foolish enough to leave GPS, sat. Radio, or anything else that could tempt a thief to smash a window, or cut a roof........

Please note, I am not a salesman for LOJACK, but I have recovered over 20 cars equipped with their system, all within 30 minutes of being reported stolen, none have been stripped.

But like all opinions......everyone has one

[Daniel]

I am not disagreeing with anyone's experience as we all have had some and on different levels mine
is from that of a person who made a living selling & installing Alarms a long with Audio systems .
Maybe some of your friends cars that had been stolen were an inside job by the installers that installed
the alarms who knows ?

About Lo Jack its ok if you dont mind losing your car and then getting it back MAYBE in one piece but the
damage from breaking in and stealing the car is done so weather you pay a Deductible or out of your own
pocket either way your going to pay to fix what the thief did ! I would choose TELETRAC over
Lo Jack a far more advanced system that uses GPS to track the car over Car Location Devices on Cop Cars .

As for Steering Locks or The Club i heard guys would hacksaw a part of the steering wheel out and steal
the car anyway or spray freon on it freezing and then whack it with a hammer and it was off . IMO an good
alarm installed with ignition kill and a Club was the best combo .

As for cheap Alarms or Alarms without starter kill switchs they maybe a waste of time remember an Alarm
system is only as good as the installation !

A Car Alarm is meant to detour a Thief from breaking in the car in the first place, a standard LED is a common
warning . This may keep some people out of your car with that alone but to a skilled car thief not at all . There
are Alarms that have open circuit Relays used to cut the ignition switch or starter, some if you cut the power to
the alarm will not allow the starter to operate because the relay was left open . If someone has lot of time to by
pass this then ya sure he could get the car started but not without a good number of tools plus lots of time nothing
is 100% full proof not even Lo Jack it take just a few wires to cut that out as well ! Or just park that stolen car in a
under ground parking lot for a day and the search is off . Lo Jack Cant be traced to under ground parking lots .


A few cars i installed alarms in years ago none were stolen and i know this because they were repeat customers !

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[124ADDHE]

Ha! I leave an extra blackbelt in view in all my cars...maybe enough to make a person move on to the next "mark".

I bought a 2way for the Jag, its great, lets me know up to 4kms away if someone is jacking my car, I can then hopefully catch them! It also is immobilized and setup so it cannot be stoled without a flatdeck and a winch.

I wired a kill switch under the dash, very hard to find, I can only do it by feel with all the trim and other wires installed. I still pull a battery cable in the city though when I am leaving the car for more than a half hour.

[wikkid]

If you are already going in the trunk, a battery disconnect would be better. That way, you never forget to open the fuel petcock, drive a short ways and run out of gas - the battery disconnect won't allow starting or hotwiring at all.




Until they break into your trunk.......

[Ptoneill]

I am not going to start an argument, however......LOJAK, CAN be tracked under garages, overpasses and inside of storage containers. It is based off of radio signals, I have followed o tractor trailer with a car inside of it, the rig was located traveling on I5, by a police air unit from 6 miles away. I am not saying this system is perfect, the signal can be degraded under some cases, and there are parts of the country where the system is not available. Unless you live in an area that does not have LOJAk, do not waste money on GPS based systems.....will not work underground, need line of sight to sat, very little police coverage, information must be relayed thru comm center, when a car moves at 88 ft/sec (60mph) you are always playing catch up. I am not in the business of selling alarms but I am sure that once you gat a GPS based system you have a monthly or yearly subscription fee, LOJAk Is a one time price.........I have recovered cars that people bought used and did not realize the car was equipped.

A car by it's very nature is subject to theft and vandalism.......there will always be a "what if?", Get Insurance, be aware of your surroundings, protect your vehicle to the best of your ability, and park next to a tricked out Honda, much easier to steal!

[Daniel]

Hi Pat

a GPS based system you have a monthly or yearly subscription fee, LOJAk Is a one time price...

Your right there is or was a fee for TELETRAC and it cost more up front cause the system was far more complex
I used to install them . I had to be certified by Teletrac before being allowed to set them up, I have no ideal
what the company is doing now that was back in the early 90s (91-95 ) . TELETRAC gave me a tour of the
command center where they tracked the cars the room was full of Monitors so they could track multiple Cars
that was a cool looking Office reminded me of something you might see in a movie .


BTW I wasn't trying to start an argument just simply sharing my experience on this issue like i said before we all
have our experiences and see it from our points of view hope it didnt sound that way .

[Ptoneill]

Daniel,

I absolutely did not think you were arguing.......you have a different opinion based on your experience....that is why I joined, I need others opinions to make up for my lack of experience!

[perthling]

I did have an alarm (and did have it linked to remote door lock operation too) but have now pulled all that out and just run a battery cut-off switch near my ignition but tucked up under the dash where it's hard to see. Even if a potential miscreant found the battery key they would struggle to find where to put it. Then they would still have to figure out how to hotwire Italian electrics.

[whiterabbit]

They make solinoid fuel line valves. Look for marine engine stuff. The thing you might want to consider is auto theft vs breaking and entering/vandilism with your insurance. If the car is moved the theives get charged with auto theft where as if they try and can't move it then it's usually vandilism/theft and insurance coverage is sometimes diffrent. I'd rather have my car start and die in the middle of the road and won't start back up, than have them run a jumper wire and drive it to be stripped or go joy riding. You get alot of attention with a dead car 50 ft from your home stalled out in an intersection. Besides, my pistol is zeroed at 50yrds!

[stonebike]

You could pay the fees to park in a gated lot / garage everywhere you go and put the car inside your home garage. Then you won't have any strange ritual to go through before driving the car.

Or you could remove the radio and put some dummy wires in the hole that hang out and make thieves think you were already robbed.

[Daniel]

You could pay the fees to park in a gated lot / garage everywhere you go and put the car inside your home garage. Then you won't have any strange ritual to go through before driving the car.
Or you could remove the radio and put some dummy wires in the hole that hang out and make thieves think you were already robbed.

This seems impractical for many people maybe even a hassle i wouldn't want to do this every time i park my car !

[v6spider]

I have an Electric Fuel pump and electronic ignition...hiding switches for turning fuel and spark off is easy for me. and probably the best deterrent. Holy snikes! This post is old! last time I posted on here it was in 2006...
someone recently replied to Joe Clemente's comment and he hasn't BEEN HERE since 2006! LOL

Rob